


Five Navigators

by helens78



Category: Star Trek (2009)
Genre: Character of Color, Community: star_trek_flashfic, Humor, Multi, five things
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-07-26
Updated: 2009-07-26
Packaged: 2017-10-04 20:40:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/33925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helens78/pseuds/helens78
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sulu takes five different approaches with five different navigators: Gary Mitchell, Kevin Riley, John Harrison, Gaila, and Pavel Chekov.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Five Navigators

**Author's Note:**

> For the Five Things challenge at Dreamwidth's star_trek_flashfic! Those of you not familiar with TOS may not recognize the first three names on the list, so here are Memory Alpha links: [Mitchell](http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Gary_Mitchell), [Riley](http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Kevin_Riley), [Harrison](http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Harrison). Inspired by the fact that it seems like, until Chekov lands on the scene, there's a new navigator almost every week. :)
> 
> ETA, 12/14/2012: So the rumor going around right now is that John Harrison is Benedict Cumberbatch's character in STXII. ^_^ That may or may not be accurate, but either way, this story features the TOS version of that character, and who knows, maybe Sulu slept with BC!Harrison, too. :)

**1.**

Everybody filled in on other shifts from time to time; Sulu was pretty easygoing about it, especially en route to new missions. People liked having a chance to catch up on sleep, say hi to friends who were running the opposite schedule, hang out in the mess hall at a standard hour for a change.

Filling in on Beta shift was always fun; the Beta shift navigator was a guy named Gary Mitchell, who had lots of stories to tell from his days at the Academy. More specifically, he had stories to tell about a certain unconventional captain, someone who'd lived down the hall from Mitchell during those halcyon days at the Academy.

"So exactly how long did he stand there yelling at the voice override panel before you told him the new password?"

"Oh, only about twenty minutes. McCoy was trying to convince him to call operations, and that would've taken all the fun out of it." Mitchell laughed. "So hey, enough about Captain Kirk. You want to get something to eat after shift change? I'm starving today."

"You bet," Sulu said. He checked the chronometer and nodded--only an hour and a half left to go.

And an hour and a half later, as expected, "getting something to eat" actually meant "going back to Mitchell's quarters and fooling around". Mitchell dragged Sulu's pants down around his thighs and dropped to his knees; Sulu dug his hand into Mitchell's hair and grinned down at him.

"Just so you know, you don't have to prove anything here," Sulu murmured.

"Like I'm trying." Mitchell licked his lips. "You want me to blow you or not?"

"Oh, let's go with 'yes'," Sulu said, and he pulled Mitchell forward.

* * *

**2.**

Rumor had it Ensign Chekov had the Arkarian flu, so it was no surprise to Sulu when he showed up for his shift and found Kevin Riley sitting at the navigator's post. "Hey, Kevin," he said, taking over the helm as Ensign Dytera gave him a little wave and headed off for the day. "How are you?"

"I'm fine," Riley said. He stifled a yawn. "Mind covering navigation for a minute while I get a cup of coffee? I was on Beta yesterday, so my sleep schedule's a little off."

"Sure, don't worry about it." Sulu set up his controls to pipe in Navigation feeds, too, and took a look at the latest readings from Stellar Cartography while he was at it. Gaila had a lot of notes on the comet they'd just passed, and by the time Sulu finished reading them, Riley was back and ready to take over again.

"Thanks," Riley said. "So how's it been going on Alpha lately? We've been hearing the craziest stories about your away missions this month..."

"All true," Sulu said dryly. "But if it helps at all, I'm missing most of them, too."

"But you get to sit in the chair then, right?" Riley glanced over his shoulder; Kirk was in the chair, of course, doing some paperwork. "I mean, tell me that isn't a thrill..."

Sulu glanced over his shoulder, too, and grinned. "Well, there are some advantages to staying onboard."

"You want to get a drink after shift and talk about that?"

Sulu raised an eyebrow at Riley. "Sure."

"I mean, we'll be on the same shift for a week," Riley said, doing his best to look innocent. It didn't work that well. "Might as well get to be friendly about it, don't you think?"

"Friendly" to Riley, it turned out, meant getting Sulu drunk--not that it took much; that whiskey Riley had on hand from the branch of his family tree that still lived in Ireland was _strong_\--and magnanimously walking him back to his quarters, leaning Sulu up against the wall and asking, very seriously, "Think you can find the bed without help?"

It was an _awful_ line, but after three shots of whiskey, Riley looked pretty good, bad lines or no. "I think a helping hand might be in order," Sulu said, reaching out and slapping at the door panel to get the doors open. "You want to come in?"

Riley grinned. "I'd never leave a friend alone in a time of need."

"I bet you wouldn't," Sulu said, and he led the way inside.

* * *

**3.**

Harrison had disappeared from the navigator's station quite some time ago; Sulu felt bad about that, but people did come and go, even on the _Enterprise_.

It wasn't until he woke up in Sickbay, yelling at the top of his lungs, sweat rolling down his bare (bare?!) chest, that he found out where Harrison had run off to.

"I was... on the bridge," he blurted out, looking around Sickbay. "Hey, Doc--what am I doing here?"

And there was Harrison, standing at his bedside, grabbing him by the wrists and pinning him to the table. Sulu's head was still spinning, and he frowned up at Harrison. "What's going on?"

Harrison grins at him. "Looks like you're going to be just fine. There was a little incident with a sword on the bridge..."

"A _what_?" Sulu stared at Harrison, horrified. "I didn't hurt anyone, did I?"

"I'm told Mr. Spock did that Vulcan nerve pinch of his and you dropped like a box of rocks."

"Oh." Sulu winced. "Well, I guess that's good."

Over at his desk, McCoy was barking orders into the intercom; the crewman on the other side of the comm sounded like he was doing his best to imitate a rabid hyena. Sulu glanced back at Harrison. "How bad is it?"

"It's been pretty rough. Dr. McCoy's found the cure, though, if you're any indication."

Sulu shook his head. "I was pretty sure I was dreaming there for a few seconds. One minute I'm on the bridge, and the next I'm in Sickbay, out of uniform--and you're a nurse?"

Harrison laughed at that last part. "I went from security to navigation to here. Always wanted to go into medicine, but I didn't have the training. Dr. McCoy's been great about letting me train in the field, and I owe Captain Kirk one for going along with it. Funny thing, though--before all this started, I would've said Sickbay's a safer place to be than security, let alone the bridge, but let me tell you--some of you guys have been a challenge to pin down."

"Nothing wrong with a good challenge now and then," Sulu said automatically, and Harrison tightened his grip on Sulu's wrists in a response that seemed every bit as automatic. McCoy stood up, and Sulu jerked back--_oh, God, he heard that; great job, Hikaru, you really shouldn't be hitting on the nurses in the middle of a medical emergency_\--but McCoy was striding toward the door, not paying the least bit of attention to Sulu or Harrison.

Which was a good thing on one level, but not so much on another. "Doc, will you let me out of here?" Sulu called after him. "I'm all right!"

"Release him!" McCoy snapped, gesturing at Harrison, and Harrison took his hands off Sulu's wrists immediately.

"So," Harrison said, clearing his throat, "when all this is over, you want to--"

"Comm me," Sulu said, glancing around Sickbay; great, his uniform shirt was nowhere to be seen. "I'll be happy to give you a challenge anytime."

* * *

**4.**

"This is _fantastic_," Gaila said, beaming at Sulu. "All that time in Stellar Cartography--I mean, I love it, don't get me wrong, but getting to actually sit at navigation here on the bridge? Dream. Come. True." Her fingers danced over the controls; Sulu could see that she was filling in more information on the star charts as she talked. "Remind me to give Pavel a kiss when he's feeling better. That poor kid; if it's not one thing it's another."

"He does seem to get into more than his share of trouble," Sulu admitted. Chekov had spent nearly one out of every three weeks in Sickbay with some ailment or another over the last few months; first it was the Arkarian flu, then he'd had phaser burns to the arm and chest, and now he'd developed a severe allergy to one of the plants they'd encountered on Nolaxx VII. Assuming he got out of Sickbay in one piece this time, Sulu was going to staple him to his chair; enough was enough.

"So tell me about you," Gaila said, batting her eyelashes at Sulu. "Uhura tells me you're good at fencing and you actually come from San Francisco. But she always leaves out the juicy stuff." She grinned. "What else have you got?"

"Tell you what," Sulu said. "How about we get dinner after shift and I'll tell you anything you want to know?"

"Deal." She offered him a hand, which made Sulu grin; it seemed like such an Earth gesture to come from their Orion crew member. He took her hand, though, and shook it firmly.

After shift, Gaila found an out-of-the-way table in one of the rec rooms, and Sulu came back from the mess hall with dinner for two. They talked about Earth and the Academy, and Sulu told Gaila about his parents, about the way his mother had reacted when her oldest son had announced he wanted to join Starfleet. She was a terrific listener; it looked like she was on the edge of her seat with every word he said, even if he was talking about gardening or the computer science class he'd almost failed.

It seemed like the most natural thing in the world to let her take his arm as he walked her back to her quarters, and when she invited him in for the night, that seemed natural, too.

In the morning, he rolled over and nuzzled the back of her neck, and she slid her fingers through his, humming softly. "Hello there."

"Good morning," Sulu murmured. He sighed. "I hate to do this, but--"

"--well, then, don't--"

"--computer, time?"

"_The time is 0714 hours._"

Gaila groaned. "You had to ask, didn't you?"

"I'm so sorry." Sulu kissed her shoulder. "I should get back to my quarters so I can get showered and changed. And I really should look to see if anything came in via comm last night that I need to take a look at..."

"I'm still on the bridge today," Gaila pointed out. "I'll see you there."

"Which is wonderful." Sulu grinned as Gaila rolled over; she was beaming up at him more than ever. "Do you want to have dinner again tonight?"

"Definitely." Gaila leaned up and kissed him, and Sulu kissed her back--and God, even in the morning she tasted like berries and wine and felt like concentrated warmth and curves and pleasure underneath him. He pulled back--more than a little reluctantly--and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

"I'll see you on the bridge."

* * *

**5.**

"Forty-one days, four hours, six minutes, and twenty-one point seventeen seconds," Chekov said when Sulu walked onto the bridge and took his post. Sulu glanced over at him, eyebrows drawn together. Chekov wasn't intimidated; he met that stare head-on. "That is the precise amount of time you have been pouting since Gaila broke up with you. Hikaru, as your friend, I am obligated to tell you: please stop. It is growing _very_ tiresome."

If Chekov had been anyone else, and if they'd been anywhere but the bridge, Sulu would probably have taken a swing at him for that. (It wasn't even accurate. Sulu hadn't been pouting _continuously_ over the last month and a half. He did have to sleep sometimes.)

But somehow it just made Sulu laugh, and he shook his head. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize it was getting to you so much." He winced, thinking about that, and he lowered his voice. "Is it bothering everybody else, too?"

Chekov shook his head. "I think it is only me who bears the brunt of your grouchy times. We do work together very closely."

"True."

As Uhura was passing by navigation, Chekov muttered something in Russian; she snorted and tossed something quick and definite over her shoulder, and Chekov straightened up, staring right at the viewscreen. "Sorry, Lieutenant."

Sulu glanced from Chekov to Uhura and back again; he _knew_ that look on her face. It was the same one he'd gotten year after year at the Academy, usually just before she lost all patience with him and shoved him bodily at whatever cadet he was lusting after _this_ week.

He took a closer look at Chekov, who was studying the viewscreen as if the planet they were orbiting was going to grow a giant hand or something. _No. Really?_

"Hey, Pavel?"

Chekov jumped, banging his knee on the underside of his console. "_Ai_\--yes, what? What?"

"You want to grab dinner after shift?"

Chekov stared at him for a few seconds, then nodded. "Yes," he said. "I would like that very much."

_-end-_


End file.
